


Valentine's Day

by Benedicthiddleston



Category: Jack Ryan & Related Fandoms, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)
Genre: Candy, F/M, Hearts, Roses, Valentine's Day, holiday challenge, romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 15:57:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1174972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benedicthiddleston/pseuds/Benedicthiddleston
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valentine's Day in New York. Anything could happen.</p><p>Spoilers for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Valentine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Holiday Challenge for Valentine's Day at [1_Million_Words](http://1-million-words.livejournal.com/516316.html). 
> 
> Unbetated, proofread once. Enjoy!
> 
> I don't own anything!
> 
> And yeah, I've seen the movie 6 times (dumb snow is preventing my 7th go around here... come on weather, it's my 4 day vacation, I want to ENJOY IT!), but ugh, these two - still killing me.

“Jack?” The door slammed shut and that ever recognizable feeling of _want_ echoed through-out the entire apartment.

 _Precisely on time_ , he thought to himself from his hiding spot in the closet. He was trying so hard not to laugh as he heard her dropping her bag in the entry way, her sneakers squeaking against the wood floor as she headed towards the living room, always searching for him. His observation skills told him she had come off the surgical floor without changing, which was common. On days she lingered at work, she always changed into something far more professional – even if scrubs, a pager, and a good pair of sneakers were acceptable.

He usually wasn’t home at this time of day, and she knew that. But considering what day it was – well, he’d cut his run short after the cold got to him, and now he was waiting for her to – well, _find_ him. Or at least notice the few _improvements_ he had made.

Cathy’s routine was obvious: work, work, work (same old, same old, etc), and then come home to set everything down in a mad rush to search for her ever-absent partner. Or at least, that is what it felt like as she found the house deadly silent _once again_.

 _Except that is new_ , she thought to herself as she noticed – well, she noticed the absence of clutter that normally graced everything Jack _touched_. At least at home. She rarely had time to hit up his office on Wall Street, and she really didn’t want to know what his office looked like. At that moment, however, she was astonished. “Hmm. Clean. JACK, ARE YOU HOME?!” She yelled questioningly again, moving from the living room into the bedroom. It was currently in a state of duress as they remodeled. Even though it also had an air of having been cleaned up from the normal clutter.   

When she still received no answer, she rolled her eyes. She sat on the edge of the bed and let out a sigh. _Once again_. She wasn’t too perturbed – this was normal. It would always be normal. Even after they were to be married – _is that seriously only a month away?_ She shook her head, slipping off her sneakers and throwing them into the open closet. She didn’t take notice as to where they ended up in said closet and continued to undress.

“Such as it is,” she muttered, getting off the bed and moving into the bathroom. “Shower. Shower is a good idea.” And per routine, it was.

Jack winced, rubbing at his shin. _Why do shoes have to hurt so much_? He’d been through worse, and yet it would be shoes that would probably take him out. He shook his head and sneaked out of the closet, coming up on the bathroom door with no sound emanating from him. He could hear the water running, his beautiful fiancée humming to herself without a care in the world. He smiled.

The kitchen had been scrubbed clean and the table cleared off. He had left three things waiting for her on the table, things he had entirely expected her to find _before_ showering, but it didn’t matter. Once she found those things, their Valentine’s day would go off without a hitch. _Fuck, I’m whipped_ , he teased himself as he let himself into the bathroom, cautioning himself to take it easy. He was already going to scare her, he knew that. No one did well being snuck up on, especially Cathy.

She was lost in her attempts to get her hair to cooperate with the shampoo, and she wasn’t on alert to paying that close of attention when she heard that all-too-familiar voice mixed with the sound of the shower door opening. “Hi.”

She smiled. “Hmm, hi,” she laughed, quickly washing the soap from out of her eyes. “Just get home?”

“Maybe.”

She rolled her eyes again in the span of ten minutes and managed to grab his collar dragging him _into_ the shower for a kiss, completely ignoring the fact he was still, in fact, fully dressed, but only in sweats and a gay pride T-shirt. “You are a really bad liar.”

“When I want to be, sure,” he laughed, kissing her back.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close when he tried to leave. “No. Strip. We have the whole damn night to ourselves.”

“And how do you know I didn’t make plans?”

She thought about that for a second. “They can wait.”

He had no qualms against that. He undressed in a heartbeat.

* * *

It was much, much _, much_ later when he finally convinced her to go into the kitchen.

In all honesty, she had been curious about whether or not he would stick to tradition. Valentine’s Day was a day for not just love, but a showering of love in many different ways. The sex was optimal, of course, but they were now past that. Next came the romantic dinner without work being involved (so things had slowed down at work, especially since the last almost-terrorist incident), and the gifts. She had gotten him a new tie and a new pair of ridiculously expensive prescription sun glasses (his eye sight was crap, the contacts were proof).

And he had gotten her – _something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue_. In addition to the dozen red roses and heart shaped necklace. Which he promptly made her wear.

Their wedding was not going to be traditional. Not in the least. It was more of an idea – the dress, the tux, the rings, and the friends. Granted, they had secured a ballroom in downtown that could hold three hundred and fifty people, but it was going to be small and elegant. It also was being kept low-key. But Jack – bless his heart for being so thoughtful – hadn’t forgotten some essential parts of an _actual traditional_ wedding.

The heart shaped candies were _blue_ , a miracle in the pink, red, and white infestation of Valentine’s Day. The shoes were new – she had been eyeing them the week before. _He knows too much about me_ , she mused, fishing the out of their box to put them on. They were specifically for the wedding, but what wasn’t a pair of high heeled shoes that she couldn’t wear them more than _once?_

Then came the very last item: the mixture of something old and something borrowed. In her case, she was borrowing it from _him_. In the case of old, it may or may not have exceeded their time together. In fact, it did.

 _Jack’s dog tags_. The identification every individual wore, especially when in any military outfit. For Jack, it had been the Marines. His recruitment had eventually been the thing to mercilessly clash their paths, their lives forever altered.

“You said you lost these.” _Years ago, before we were even dating. Before New York. Back in a little hospital, in a Rehab unit._ So much for not encountering the height of emotions on a romantic day.

“’Lost’ and ‘forgot where I put them’ isn’t the same wordage. I found them a while back. I know it is unconventional, but hear me out-“

She turned back towards him, after having been staring at the table with a mixture of emotions, sweeping in for the kiss. She wrapped her hands around his neck, whispering, “Shut up. It’s adorable. It’s meaningful. And hot damn, you couldn’t get any sexier right now.”

He chuckled. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Cathy.”

She just kissed him again, happy, grateful, _content_.


End file.
